A stolen boat that crashed off of Marco Island in the Gulf of Mexico last weekend belongs to the Minnesota dentist who sparked global fury after killing Cecil the lion last summer at a national park in Africa, police said.
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Officials initially were called to reports of a boat crash at the Caxambas Park Marina on Sunday afternoon.
Marco Island police told Naples Daily News that Derwin took the keys to Palmer’s boat off the lanai.
Andrew Derwin, 26, of Marco Island was arrested on grand theft charges after he crashed Palmer’s boat at Caxambas Park Marina.
Officials responded to a crashed boat on Tuesday and found Derwin and passenger Nicolas Stolinas with the stolen vehicle.
During the investigation, police learned that the boat was stolen and registered to Palmer, Derwin’s neighbor.
A woman who was supposedly watching the home said to police that Palmer left the keys there for a maintenance person to service the $61,000 boat.
Palmer made headlines last July for killing a prized lion while on a hunting trip in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean police said Tuesday, July 28, 2015 they are searching for Walter James Palmer, an American who allegedly shot Cecil with a crossbow while on a big game hunt in a killing that has outraged conservationists and others.
In the court of public opinion Palmer is guilty.
Last August, amid the controversy swirling around Palmer, his $1.1million Marco Island home was defaced by angry protesters, who spray-painted “lion killer” on his garage door and dumped raw meat in his driveway.
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Palmer was not at his residence during the theft as he is in Cleveland, an honorary guest of trophy-hunter Eric Trump, and was seen sitting with the Trump family during the opening night of the Convention.
